Digital Commons Network^™

Book Review: Baseball/Literature/Culture Essays: 2004-2005, Scott D. Peterson

Communication Faculty Publications

This collection is the third in a series of essays selected from the Indiana State University Conference on Baseball in Literature and Culture. Each of the three volumes is edited by Carino, who tells us in the present introduction that he prefers to think of the 18 essays-nine on baseball and literature and nine on baseball as a cultural institution-as a doubleheader rather than two competing nines.

Perceived Source Credibility Of Local Television News: The Impact Of Television Form And Presence, Cheryl C. Bracken

Communication Faculty Publications

An increasing number of local news stations are producing and broadcasting their newscasts in high-definition television (HDTV), but to date there has not been an investigation of audience perceptions of news in high definition. This study presents the results from an experiment investigating the influence of television form (image quality and field of view) on presence and audiences' perceptions of source credibility for news anchors and local news. The results demonstrate that improved image quality (HDTV) has a positive influence on audience perceptions of source credibility and the overall credibility of newscasts. Implications are discussed.

Are Anti-Spit Tobacco Campaigns Striking Out? A Survey Of Iowa And Nebraska College Baseball Players, David C. Ogden, Teresa A. Lamsam, Hugh J. Reilly, Michael L. Hilt

Communication Faculty Publications

Anti-spit tobacco information is replete with fear appeals, including firsthand accounts of death and debilitation, to make users aware of the health risks and dangers. Those dangers, however, are well known by baseball players whose association with spit tobacco is historic. A survey of 217 Iowa and Nebraska college players showed that despite their awareness of spit tobacco's dangers, the players use spit tobacco to relax and focus on the field. This study supports other research showing that fear appeals may not be the most appropriate approach for anti-tobacco advertising campaigns. The study suggests that campaigns should promote relaxation and …

Book Review: Learning To Write "Indian": The Boarding-School Experience And American Indian Literature, Bruce E. Johansen

Communication Faculty Publications

In a twist on assimilation, many boarding school students used the English language, a primary tool of colonization, to "talk back" to the system. As surely as the boarding-schools' inventors understood that language is the vessel of culture, none of them gave much thought to the ways in which Native Americans would use English to critique the schools into which many of them had been unwillingly enrolled.

Their writings, examined by Amelia Katanski, indicate that the boarding-school students were unwilling to surrender as victims. Learning English describes how Native American students in boarding schools often forged new identities, taking a …

Baby Boomers’ Attitudes Towards Product Placements, Nichole M. Schmoll, John Hafer, Michael L. Hilt, Hugh J. Reilly

Communication Faculty Publications

Including branded products within mass media programming is becoming common. Previous research has focused almost entirely on college-age students' attitudes about placements in movies and television. This research focuses on Baby Boomers and is the first to include questions about multiple media in forming attitudes towards product placements. Six hypotheses were tested. Attitude toward product placement is related to media consumption. Males appear more positive than females. Interactions effects of media consumption x gender and media consumption x age appear insignificant. Analytical results, graphs, tables and managerial implications and representative comments from respondents are presented.

Understanding Employees' Willingness To Contributeto Shared Electronic Databases: A Three-Dimensional Framework, Guowei Jian, Leo Wayne Jeffres

Communication Faculty Publications

Work organizations increasingly adopt shared electronic databases. However, employees' unwillingness to contribute to shared resources undermines the utility of such technologies. Current research is limited to either a utilitarian or normative perspective. To advance understanding in this area, this study proposes a three-dimensional framework. It includes the utilitarian and normative perspectives as two complementary dimensions in addition to a third collaborative dimension. Based on this framework, the study identifies three key organizational processes and advances an additive model to predict employees' willingness to contribute to shared electronic databases. An empirical test was conducted to assess the model in a large …

Gender Role And Feminism Revisited: A Follow-Up Study, Elizabeth A. Suter, Paige W. Toller

Communication Faculty Publications

In this follow-up to our earlier study (Toller, Suter, & Trautman, Gender role identity and attitudes towards feminism, Sex Roles, 51, 85–90, 2004) we examine the interrelationships among gender role, support for feminism, and willingness to self-label as feminist. Ten percent of college students previously surveyed participated in qualitative interviews, which elicited characterizations of feminists, whether students self-identified as feminist, suggestions for garnering support for feminism, and for interpretation of the initial study’s findings. Students were asked to speculate why we found that highly masculine men and highly feminine women were neither likely to self-identify as feminist nor to …

Book Review: Bleeding Red, Scott D. Peterson

Communication Faculty Publications

Bleeding Red is one of (at least) three books that contain diaries from the 2004 season of the Boston Red Sox (the other two beingFaithful by Stephen King and Stewart O'Nan and Now I can Die in Peace by Bill Simmons). How, one might ask, were these authors fortunate enough to choose that particular year of the previous 86? This is more easily answered in the case of Simmons, who didn't start his diary until after the All-Star break, but does this mean we can look forward to diaries of the 2005 White Sox season, and are there scribes …

Aarp Online Portrayal Of Social Security: Engaging Aging Baby Boomers Through Interaction, Michael L. Hilt, Jeremy Harris Lipschultz

Communication Faculty Publications

Although baby boomers were not the sole focus of the American Association of Retired Persons' (AARP) website content on the issue of Social Security reform, their interests were addressed in a variety of ways. AARP provided information, position statements, a live chat forum, and message boards. Additionally, AARP had a partnership with the Rock the Vote website. It was unexpected that AARP would be so interested in younger people and in convincing them about their generation's need to support Social Security as it currently exists. It may be that as the baby boom generation enters retirement, AARP will become increasingly …

Book Review: Perspectives On Culture, Technology And Communication, J. Wesley Baker

Communication Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Editors’ Note: Simile Progress Report, Jeremy Harris Lipschultz, Michael L. Hilt

Communication Faculty Publications

As Studies in Media & Information Literacy Education (SIMILE) enters its sixth year of publication, the coeditors have identified a number of issues to be addressed in the journal’s development. This editors’ note explores how the field of media and information literacy education has grown in importance. There continues to be a need for both theory-building and empirical research data, which would strengthen conceptualization. SIMILE needs to cultivate a global sense of significance about media and information literacy education issues across many disciplines.

Worship Styles, Musicand Social Identity: A Communication Study, Terri Lynne Johnson, Jill E. Rudd, Kimberly Neuendorf, Guowei Jian

Communication Faculty Publications

This quantitative study investigates music and worship style preferences. A survey measured participants' worship and music preferences in order to further examine the relationship between the two. Multiple and logistic regressions were significant indicating that preferred music genres can be used to predict one's worship style preference. Further investigation used Social Identity Theory to examine the conflict that often occurs within churches over music and worship styles. Therefore, the survey included the Identification with a Psychological Group scale to measure participants' identification with the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. Multiple regression results showed a significant overall prediction of organizational identity, indicating …

Distancing From Problematic Coworkers, Jon A. Hess

Communication Faculty Publications

Troublesome relationships are a universal aspect of human social interaction (Levitt, Silver, & Franco, 1996). Perhaps nowhere besides the family are problematic relationships so commonplace as in the workplace. Although relationship research primarily focuses on positive relations and thorny problems that occur even in the best of relationships, virtually everyone who has worked in an organization can relate stories of problematic relationships. The challenges these relationships pose resonate with people’s deepest feelings and most significant experiences at work. Problematic work relationships are often as memorable as they are challenging. Workplace relations are largely nonvoluntary relationships. They are created when people …

Turning Points In Relationships With Disliked Co-Workers, Jon A. Hess, Becky Lynn Omdahl, Janie M. Harden Fritz

Communication Faculty Publications

Although most people begin their employment with the education and on-the-job training to handle the tasks their jobs entail, few long-term employees boast that they feel competent in dealing with all the difficult people they encounter in the workplace. Unpleasant coworkers range from annoying nuisances to major sources of job frustration and career roadblocks. Given that periodic preoccupation with unlovable coworkers is nearly a universal feature of organizational life, it is not surprising that such relationships are given due attention in the media and popular press (e.g., Bramson, 1989; Topchik, 2000). What is surprising is how little scholarly attention has …